New MassDOT plan includes East-West rail study, after years of legislative struggle
A newly-released draft of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s 2018 rail plan includes a proposal to study ways to connect Boston and Springfield with passenger rail, following a years-long struggle by Longmeadow Sen. Eric Lesser and other Western Mass. legislators to pass such a study through the State House. In the plan, MassDOT has designated East-West rail as a Tier 2 project — one meriting further study. The rail plan says that MassDOT will examine both conventional rail service proposed by a multi-state study in 2016 and higher-speed options.